Integrated data management and analysis to put the systemic puzzle together (for more see Mission)

Monday, May 28, 2007

AMIA 2007 Spring Congress Synopsis

This year's AMIA Spring Congress involved researchers from many fields including Medical Communities, Nurses, Informatics, Basic Research (bench) and some industry representatives as well, all coming together with a common goal: translate biomedical knowledge into medical practice. The meeting included 5 tracks, spanning from nursing informatics to clinical decision support, personalized health records and translational research, so it was a good mix of several domains each with its own challenges and methodologies.Adam Bosworth, vice-president of Google opened the meeting with a blast, his vision on how health related information will/should be handled in a not so distant future was mesmerizing, his insight on how google is prepared to adress this challenge an unexpected surprise. Here are his notes.The translational research informatics track was one of the most interesting, it became clear how CTSA has had and is still having a key role in the development of a new science - Integrative Bioinformatics. Several CTSA awardees made their voices heard and lots of ideas flew around the room, from tools already being developed and evaluated to tools promising but still in the planning process, integration was the keyword and the main challenge.caBIG was also given a chance to give their 2 cents, but the most enthusiastic seemed to rely mostly on in-house costumized tools. There were plenty of semantic web technologies aficionados, including users of Protege, but no Semantic or Sloppy Databases (exept ours :D).Christopher Chute also made his presence felt, his insight in what regards the basic researchers vs clinical research "Chasm of Semantic Despair" was particularly insightfull.